The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1887-02-18
A Success.
THE FARMERS INSTITUTE AT BANcRor'

That the people of Bancroft and vicinity
and members of Pomona Grange worked
hard to make the Institute a success was
made apparent to all blythe attendance
and interest taken in this gathering, Rep
resentative farmers from all parts of Shia.
wassec county were present TO instruct and
be instructed.
The Institute opened Tuesday evening.
and despite the storm, the hall was filed.
After prayer by Rev. Richard Lewis. the
president, L. S. Burnett. gave short adj
1ress of welcome to the visiting guests.
The entire report of Tuesdays proceed
ings is deferred until next week.
On account of the absence of one or two
who were to have taken part, the program
was changed somewhat and the first adj
dress was on the subject of
THE FOOT OF THE HORSE
Prof. f. A. Grange, State veterinary sur
geon, opened his talk by calling attention
to the horses foot as relates to all the COM
| mercial interests in which horse flesh was
used, TO the need Of its being well taken
Was described as being thu; of cylinder
cut away. The foot is, he said, divided
into two parts, one sensitive and the other
insenstlve, the sensitive part was COM
posed of blood vessels and nerves, and
was commonly known as the quick. The
insensitive part, or the hoof, was divided
into three parts, wall, sole and frog; the
wall, or cutter part, rests on the ground, is
from quarter to half an inch in thickness
and was thickest at the toe and is full of
innumerable fbers; the sole of the foot is
composed of q horny matter; the frog is
composed of the most sensitive parts The
bones of the foot were three, coffin, shuttle
and lower pasterns. This part of his lee
ture was fully illustrated by prepared
specimens, showing all the parts of the
foot and limb. AS to horse. .shoeing he
said that as rule the hoof was pared too
much. The pairing should not be contin-
ued until the sole can be pressed in with
pared in the same way, but no wedge shape
piece should be cut from the rear of the
foot, as is too often done to spread it, as it
would cause the wall TO contract. In fit
ting shoe it should never be applied red
hot; the upper portion of the shoe should
be flat, and not beveled. The various dis
eases of the horses foot were described,
and causes of same were given. The
talk was an interesting as well as an in
structive one, and at its close an oppor-
tunity was given to ask questions this
was taken advantage of and several practi.
cal questions put and answered. This
subject is but little understood and greater
pains should be taken by horsemen to post
themselves.
President Willets, of the Agricultural
College was TO have been present and de
livered lecture on the workings, ETC.,
of the College, but was unable to come on
account of sickness. His place on the
program was taken by
PROF. A. j. COOK,
who spoke off-hand on the subject of
Economy in Bookkeeping, which he said
was point that received too little atten.
ton. Recent visits to silos in northern
Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin, had satisfied
him that this much talked of system was
both practical and of value to Michigan
farmers; that he had determined to build
three on his farm Qhree miles south of
Owosso) the coming summer. This silo
was described as large box-two thick
nesses of boards, with an air chamber be-
tween, lined inside with building paper or
plastercd, but to be air tight and well
drained, need not be expensive and could
be built in or out of the barn. BY the use
of food, stored in silos, commonly known
as ensilage, farmers and dairymen were
enabled to keep more stock, and TO make
butter in the season when il brought the
best prices, etc. The three great points
claimed for ensilage were; That as food
it was more digestlble, easier taken care of
and stock does better when fed it, The
products of the farm, such as hay, millet
and corn fodder could be utilized to bet
ter advantage. The last he recommended
as being best, and said that tho Southern
corn-N irgiuia-had proved to be most
as a larger crop was grown and
1t ripened in time The Prof. does not
approve of cutting the fodder when green,
but waits until ripe and then cuts with a
reaper. one row at time and leaves It on
the ground for day at least. The feed
should be cut from one.half an inch to an
inch in length when put in, and great
amount should not be stored at once. and |
then left at least a day before more is put
In. and should be dry when stored. After
the silo is full cover it with building paper
and boards, and then throw on hay enough |
to press itdown. The size of the silos he
ID